A Brief History of New Amsterdam

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A Brief History of New Amsterdam

• Thomas De Vicq

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A Brief History of New Amsterdam

• Thomas De Vicq

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• Henry Hudson was hired by the Dutch to find a
  Northwest passage to China. Hudson was
  unsuccessful but in 1609 he found a wide stretch
  of river situated between present day Manhattan
  and New Jersey, known today as the Hudson river.
• By 1624 present day (south) Manhattan Island was
  established by the Dutch West India Company as a
  trading post mostly for beaver furs.

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• Henry Hudson was hired by the Dutch to find a
  Northwest passage to China. Hudson was
  unsuccessful but in 1609 he found a wide stretch
  of river situated between present day Manhattan
  and New Jersey, known today as the Hudson river.
• By 1624 present day (south) Manhattan Island was
  established by the Dutch West India Company as a
  trading post mostly for beaver furs.

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• By 1626 Manhattan Island saw its first set of
  permanent settlers including 11 African slaves
  from Angola. First settlers were not actually
  Dutch rather Belgian Huguenots (or French
  speaking Calvinists).
• Peter Minuit bought the entire island from the
  Natives for 60 guilders which was very cheap.
• Problems for settlers quickly began, however, as
  Jonas Michaelus writes in 1628
• As a fur trading post New Amsterdam was strictly
  2nd class. The big bucks were in the spices,
  pepper and textiles of the East.

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• By 1626 Manhattan Island saw its first set of
  permanent settlers including 11 African slaves
  from Angola. First settlers were not actually
  Dutch rather Belgian Huguenots (or French
  speaking Calvinists).
• Peter Minuit bought the entire island from the
  Natives for 60 guilders which was very cheap.
• Problems for settlers quickly began, however, as
  Jonas Michaelus writes in 1628
• As a fur trading post New Amsterdam was strictly
  2nd class. The big bucks were in the spices,
  pepper and textiles of the East.

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• Most people in Holland not interested in going to
  Manhattan because it was such a second class
  outfit. Why pursue beaver skins when you could go
  after slave trade in Africa/ spice islands for
  much more profit? Just wasnt much in New
  Amsterdam that would produce serious bucks.
• In 1643 Willem Kieft, the then Director-general,
  orders an attack on the Lenape Natives killing
  120 men, women and children over the course of a
  year. This was done presumably because of
  frequent attacks on European settlers in and
  around the island.

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• Most people in Holland not interested in going to
  Manhattan because it was such a second class
  outfit. Why pursue beaver skins when you could go
  after slave trade in Africa/ spice islands for
  much more profit? Just wasnt much in New
  Amsterdam that would produce serious bucks.
• In 1643 Willem Kieft, the then Director-general,
  orders an attack on the Lenape Natives killing
  120 men, women and children over the course of a
  year. This was done presumably because of
  frequent attacks on European settlers in and
  around the island.

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• With meager trading, virtually no secure
  agriculture and dissent among the colonists
  because of poor leadership, the colony was near
  collapse and population was declining. As a
  result

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• With meager trading, virtually no secure
  agriculture and dissent among the colonists
  because of poor leadership, the colony was near
  collapse and population was declining. As a
  result

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Improvements on the way

• Luckily the DWIC in 1647 replaced Kieft with
  Peter Stuyvesant who had orders to turn New
  Amsterdam around and make it profitable. In a
  short time he imposed fines for missing church
  and banned drinking on Sunday. Population
  increases and within 8 years the colony is turned
  around and reached a population of 3,000.
  Stuyvesant also builds a wall to keep the Natives
  and English out.

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Improvements on the way

• Luckily the DWIC in 1647 replaced Kieft with
  Peter Stuyvesant who had orders to turn New
  Amsterdam around and make it profitable. In a
  short time he imposed fines for missing church
  and banned drinking on Sunday. Population
  increases and within 8 years the colony is turned
  around and reached a population of 3,000.
  Stuyvesant also builds a wall to keep the Natives
  and English out.

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Works Cited

• Ades, Lisa Burns, Ric Rivo, Steve. Burns, Ric
  Sanders, James. (1999). New York A Documentary
  Film Episode 1. United States PBS.
• Archdeacon, Thomas. (1976). New York City,
  1664-1710. Ithaca, NY Cornell University
  Press.
• Holder, Furber. (1976). Rival empires of trade in
  the Orient. Minneapolis University of
  Minnesota Press.
• Singleton, Esther. (1968). Dutch New York. New
  York Benjamin Blom, Inc.

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